Nothing Corny About This!

Here's my find of the season. These are the cutest, yummiest, most addictive Halloween cookie ever! The good thing is they're bite size. The bad thing is they're bite size.

Make your sugar cookie dough and divide into thirds. Line a 9x5 loaf pan with waxed paper and press one third of the dough in the bottom. Place another third in a bowl and add a small amount of orange food color. Mix until well blended and then press the orange dough on top of the white. Place the remaining third in a bowl and use yellow food color. Press the yellow dough on top of the orange and then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Invert loaf pan onto a cutting surface. Peel off the waxed paper and slice loaf cross-wise into 1/4 inch slices. I actually used a metal ruler as a cutting edge for the slices so they'd be equal and even. Lay the slice on its side and cut into 6 (or so) wedges. Place on ungreased cookie sheet about an inch apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 7-10 minutes. Cool 1 minute and immediately place warm cookies in a bowl with sugar, rolling to coat. Store in loosely covered container.

You can use your own recipe for the dough, but here's the one I used. A soft, easy to work with dough.

1 cup butter, softened (I use unsalted)
1 1/2 cup sugar, divided use (Use the 1/2 cup for coating finished cookies)
1 large egg
2 T orange juice (I used milk instead)
2 t orange zest (did not use)
1/8 salt
3 cups flour
1/2 t baking soda

This recipe made about 15 dozen miniature cookies.

A Fall Wrap

Here's an easy to do wrap-job which was adapted from my friend Juleah's blog. She used these cuties to make hair decorations; I just glued it to a package instead of a bobby pin. I can see so many ways to use these. (Cindy, I can see you using these for napkin rings for Thanksgiving!)

Here's how simple it is. Felt circles, felt strip. Burn the edges. I did exactly what Juleah did--used a tea candle to burn the edges. It took me a minute to get the hang of it. Some of the felt flamed, some didn't. I couldn't decide if it was my technique or the dyes in the felt. I was able to get a good rhythm after a few circles. Always seeing the bright side, I say the flamed parts actually add some dimension to it. Sew the circles together by adding beads. Voila!

I have a lot of white felt from another project so I'm seeing a winter wonderland scene for something. If you try these, I'd love to know how you used them and how you changed things up. That's part of the fun, ya know?

It's Autumn

I'm back in Pittsburgh after what seems like weeks of work, mayhem and travel. Maybe because it was. To Tulsa. To Atlanta. To Baltimore. To Charlotte. And back to Pittsburgh. Everything was good, but I'm just glad to not be going anywhere right now. I need time to sit and watch the leaves fall. And fall they do. Here, you are very aware of how many leaves there are because all you have to do is rake your leaves to the curb and the borough picks them up. No bagging! About now, there are massive piles of leaves along the streets. The only downside of this procedure that I can see, is kids probably don't have the experience of jumping in a big pile of leaves while the parents rake. I never did that anyway.

The sky is blue. The whole world seems golden and red. It's a perfect autumn morning. I love the chill with the promise of a sunny day, light jacket required. My head is saying enjoy today. My head and my heart are in tune for once.